Author: Ameron (Derek Myers)

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Month in Review

Month in Review: March 2011

A controversial stance on the Avenger class, an in-depth look at the Warforged, as well as our unique take on divination, summoning, and trust issues in D&D all contributed to our best month yet here at Dungeon’s Master. These were just a few of the many topics we covered throughout March.

Although we generally run our Month in Review on the 1st, we decided to wait given that Friday was April Fool’s Day. Hopefully you enjoyed our April Fools Day article, Magical Items That Aren’t Magical. Now it’s on to the Month in Review where we recap all of the great articles we ran over the past month and give you a chance to get caught up on anything you might have missed.

We’d like to again thank everyone who visited Dungeon’s Master during March and we hope that you keep visiting us in the months to come. We welcome your feedback and look forward to reading your comments throughout April.

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Humour

Magic Items That Aren’t Magical – April Fools!

Too often we take D&D too seriously. That’s not to say that funny things don’t happen during the course of an adventure, but when it comes to the rules and the mechanics of the game it’s usually all business.

Today, in honour of April Fool’s Day we’re taking a step back and adding a little bit of humour to one of the more serious aspects of the game – magic treasure.

As we’ve discussed before, the way the players describe their magical items is certainly not the way that their characters describe their items (see What’s a +1 Sword?). With that in mind, every now and then the DM should have some fun at the player’s expense. This isn’t intended to be mean spirited; it’s merely a way for the DM to inject some hilarity into the game by exploiting player greed.

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Editorial

D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 8.)

Surrounded by 20 Phantom Brigade soldiers, the party of seven decided to attack Salazar Vladistone and fight their way out of the burning town of Inverness. What looked like the making of a TPK ended up being one of the most exciting weeks of D&D Encounters I’ve played so far.

When running last week’s encounter I decided to give the players a compelling motivate to fight the Phantom Brigade soldiers rather than avoid them or flee. The PCs found Faldyra passed out in her home choking on smoke and about to be consumed by fire. They rescued her, but that meant that this week’s encounter needed some tweaking.

As written, last week’s encounter was supposed to be nothing more than a hack and slash battle with some ghosts. Faldyra wasn’t supposed to be rescued until this week. Since they already rescued her I had to make a few adjustments.

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DM Resources Eberron

Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 10)

The Thronehold Tournament is the most mysterious and lucrative gambling tournament in Eberron. It happens every year in the very castle that once housed the Five Nations’ one true king. Today we reveal the history of the card tournament that according to the castles’ guardians, House Deneith, doesn’t exist. Are you ready to learn about the fastest way to earn a fortune in Eberron?

Click on the Eberron tab above the Dungeon’s Master banner to find the previous installments in this ongoing series as well as many other great Eberron articles and resources.

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Editorial

D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 7)

Inverness was burning! After Brother Splintershield’s unfortunate death last week, the ritual that protected the town disappeared. As soon as that happened a coordinated attack immediately struck the town. The heroes could see signs of the blazing town, most notably the smoke clouds, off in the distance. If the heroes had any hope of helping their friends and saving the town from whatever plight it now faced they had to act quickly.

Unwilling to leave Splintershield’s body unburied, the PCs quickly made a crude sled with which they could easily bring his remains along with them. A few Nature checks later and they were off. After an hour of swift travel through the brush they arrived at the forest edge and got their first look at the devastation happening in the town.

Ghost soldiers were ransacking and bringing Inverness. Most buildings were ablaze already. Ghostly archers shot flaming arrows at all structures. It was clear that their purpose was destruction. Salazar Vladistone was true to his word. He returned with the Phantom Brigade and they were reclaiming Inverness as their own.

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Class Discussions

Avenger – Worst Striker Ever

Strikers are without a doubt my favourite role in 4e D&D. In a balanced party someone needs to be responsible for excessive damage output and that’s usually me. I’ve played the Rogue, Ranger, Warlock, Sorcerer, Monk and Barbarian classes and enjoyed all of them. Although I’ve never played an Assassin, one of the players at my gaming table ran one for months the last time I was the DM so I’m well aware of their prowess (and look forward to playing one soon). Each striker class has its own pros and cons, and every one of them is rewarding and a lot of fun to play. Except the Avenger.

I’ve played the Avenger during dungeon delves and more recently I’ve been playing one in Living Forgotten Realms (LFR). After giving the Avenger a thorough shake-down I’ve come to realize that Avengers suck. They are the worst, most underpowered class in the striker family. I’d go so far as to say that the Avenger is quite possibly the worst classes in 4e D&D.

The striker’s purpose is to dish out damage. What makes the striker special is that when he hits it should hurt… a lot. All strikers get a little something extra to enhance their damage output. Admittedly in many cases the extra damage is circumstantial and if the appropriate criterion isn’t met then they don’t get the extra damage. The Avenger is the only Striker class that gets nothing extra.

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Editorial

The Importance of Trust and Honesty in D&D

I think that the vast majority of people who play D&D take for granted just how important trust and honesty are to the game. In order for everything to work we have to assume that everyone playing is honest and trustworthy. Of course, we don’t come right out and ask this of the other players; you merely accept it as fact. If players cheat or abuse the trust we’ve given them in good faith, then the system won’t work and the gaming experience will be tarnished.

Just this past weekend I was playing a Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) adventure at my FLGS and something happened that really highlighted the importance of trust in D&D. It was an unusual situation, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that perhaps it’s time to discuss just how vital trust and honesty are in D&D.

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Editorial

D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 6)

When the encounter’s called “The Death of Aldus Splintershield” it’s a safe bet that the party is in for one hell of a fight. After defeating the infected foresters last week, Brother Splintershield allowed for only a short rest before the party continued deeper into the woods to discover the source of the strange plague infecting the men and animals.

A good DM learns from his mistakes. I’ve certainly made plenty of mistakes as a DM. This week I had the opportunity to learn from one I made just a few weeks ago at D&D Encounters. During Week 3the party explored the ruins of Castle Inverness. Unfortunately the only 1-inch scale battle map provided was for the corner of the keep where the monsters were hiding. As soon as the players saw this, they knew that nothing “important” was likely to happen anywhere else.

Last week I tried to emphasize that just because there’s a map doesn’t mean that there’s certainly going to be combat or that there’s even any threats present. The result of my craftiness regrettably ended with Belgos the Dragonborn murdering Steve… poor guy.

This week I tried to learn from my Week 3 mistake. I didn’t produce the 1-inch scale battle map until it was actually time for combat. I found a copy of the Harken Forest online in the Wizards forums. I printed a colour copy on an 11 x 17 page and presented this to the players. Without a clear indication of where the battle would take place, they were extremely cautious when exploring.

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Class Discussions DM Resources

Divine Intervention

I’ve always had a fondness for divine characters. The idea that these classes actually receive divine power directly from their deity everyday in the form of prayer spells has always blown my mind. Unlike the Wizard who need to study and learn their spells, the power of a divine character is based largely in the strength of his faith.

Even though I’m not a particularly devote person in real life, playing a pious character is a role I have very little trouble getting into. This character actually receives confirmation every day that his deity not only exists but allows the PCs to act in his name. I just don’t see how your faith can waiver after you’ve felt the touch of your patron.

As the DM I’ve tried to emphasize this connection between divine characters and their deity at my gaming table. The DM (acting in his role as the patron deity) provides the divine PC with something useful for the upcoming adventure. Usually this is just information that would otherwise be unknown to the PC, but often I granted power boons as well. However, I’ve found this to be a more difficult undertaking with 4e D&D then it ever was in previous editions.

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Class Discussions

Divinations – Is Some Magic Just Too Powerful for PCs?

No power is greater than the ability to see the future. Whether it’s the ability to determine if turning right or left will lead to a better outcome or foreseeing the death of friends and family, knowing what lies ahead often tips the scales of power heavily towards the diviner.

In fantasy literature divinations are often vague and described as prophecy. Rarely does any character get a clear picture of exactly how things are going to unfold. After all everyone has free will and actions can be unpredictable. Divination magic assumes that people will continue along the paths that they’re most likely to take.

The advantage that authors of fantasy literature have when they’re creating stories with divinations is that the author controls all aspects of the story. This is certainly not the case in D&D (or any RPG for that matter). The DM may design and set the framework for the story, but with up to six players making decisions on how things are going to play out it becomes next to impossible for the DM to predict what’s going to happen next with any certainty.

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